Sumo glossary

Plain-language definitions of the 37 terms used across SumoFans. Many have no English equivalent - yusho, kachi-koshi, kabu - so we keep the Japanese where it's the only honest word, and translate where we can. Every term has a permalink: deep-link any of them with /glossary/#<romaji>.

Tournament structure

Six big events a year and the lists that govern who fights in them.

English	日本語	Romaji	What it means here
Tournament	場所	Basho	A 15-day competition. Six per year - Jan, Mar, May, Jul, Sep, Nov. Each Makuuchi wrestler fights once per day.
Grand tournament	本場所	Honbasho	The full term for one of the six official tournaments. Distinguishes them from jungyo (off-tour exhibitions, which don't count toward records).
Top division	幕内	Makuuchi	The highest of six divisions in pro sumo. ~42 wrestlers. The only division most fans follow daily.
Second division	十両	Juryo	The second-highest division (~28 wrestlers). Salaried like Makuuchi - together they are the sekitori. Below this, wrestlers earn only a small allowance.
Top-rank cluster	三役	Sanyaku	The four highest ranks collectively: Yokozuna, Ozeki, Sekiwake, Komusubi. The named ranks. Everything below is Maegashira.
Ranking	番付	Banzuke	The official ranked list of all wrestlers, published before each basho. Determines pay, schedule, and prestige.
Playoff	決定戦	Kettei-sen	Tie-breaking bout(s) on senshuraku (the final day) when two or more wrestlers finish with the same leading record.
Regional tour	巡業	Jungyo	Off-tournament exhibitions across Japan. Results don't count toward records but injuries do; major wrestlers occasionally skip jungyo to recover.

Ranks

Sumo's named ranks, from the top down. Promotion is rules-based but the JSA's Yokozuna Deliberation Council has final say on the highest two.

English	日本語	Romaji	What it means here
Grand champion	横綱	Yokozuna	The highest rank. Yokozuna are never demoted - if performance collapses they are expected to retire. Only ~70 have ever held the rank.
Champion	大関	Ozeki	Second-highest. Earned after sustained near-yokozuna performance. An ozeki who goes make-koshi (losing record) gets one basho to recover before demotion.
Junior champion	関脇	Sekiwake	Third-highest. The launching pad for ozeki promotion; sustained excellence here is the gating signal.
Small junior champion	小結	Komusubi	Fourth-highest. Often a sanyaku debut spot; many wrestlers cycle K-and-down without reaching Sekiwake.
Rank-and-file	前頭	Maegashira	Numbered 1 (highest) through ~17 (lowest), each with East and West slots. Roughly two-thirds of Makuuchi sits here.

Match outcomes

How a bout ends and what the result means for records.

English	日本語	Romaji	What it means here
Championship	優勝	Yusho	Tournament win - most victories in the division. Ties broken by playoff (kettei-sen).
Perfect record	全勝優勝	Zensho-yusho	A 15-0 yusho. Rare and revered - signals a wrestler at the absolute peak of the division.
Win record	勝ち越し	Kachi-koshi	8 or more wins in a 15-day basho. Triggers promotion or rank stability.
Loss record	負け越し	Make-koshi	8 or more losses. Triggers demotion.
Special prize	三賞	Sansho	Three optional end-of-basho awards: Shukun-sho (outstanding), Kanto-sho (fighting spirit), Gino-sho (technique). Voted by the JSA judges. Maximum one of each per basho.
Gold star	金星	Kinboshi	A Maegashira's win over a Yokozuna. Carries a permanent salary bonus for the rest of the wrestler's career - tangible and historic.
Deciding technique	決まり手	Kimarite	The official move that ends a match. 82 are recognized; ~10 cover the bulk.
Initial charge	立合い	Tachi-ai	The simultaneous launch off the lines at the start of a bout. Often determines the bout in the first second.
Sidestep	変化	Henka	Stepping aside at the tachi-ai instead of meeting the charge. Legal but disrespected from higher ranks; routine from desperate ones.

People

Who you'll hear named at a sumo event.

English	日本語	Romaji	What it means here
Wrestler	力士	Rikishi	A professional sumo wrestler. The salaried top-two-division ones are called sekitori.
Salaried wrestler	関取	Sekitori	A wrestler in Juryo or Makuuchi - paid a real salary, wears a silk mawashi, eats in the heya's senior dining room, and has tsukebito attendants.
Junior attendant	付き人	Tsukebito	Lower-ranked rikishi assigned to assist a sekitori - cooking, laundry, mawashi maintenance, errands. Part apprenticeship, part service.
Stablemaster	親方	Oyakata	Retired wrestler who runs a heya. Holds one of 105 elder-name licenses (kabu).

Places and gear

The physical environment of professional sumo.

English	日本語	Romaji	What it means here
Ring	土俵	Dohyo	The clay platform - 4.55m diameter circle inside a 6.7m square - on which the match takes place.
Ring-entering	土俵入り	Dohyo-iri	The ceremonial entrance of Makuuchi (and separately Juryo) wrestlers before their division's bouts begin.
Belt	廻し	Mawashi	The thick silk belt every sekitori wears - the only legal garment in a bout. Sub-Juryo wrestlers wear a cotton mawashi instead.
Stable	部屋	Heya	The training group a wrestler belongs to - they live, eat, and train there. ~45 active heya.
Stable federation	一門	Ichimon	One of five informal alliances of heya (Dewanoumi, Nishonoseki, Tokitsukaze, Takasago, Isegahama). Heya within an ichimon don't have their wrestlers face each other on the early days of a basho.
Origin	出身	Shusshin	A wrestler's official place of origin - prefecture for Japanese, country for foreign-born. Shapes identity and fan support; published next to every name in tournament programs.

Career events

Milestones a wrestler hits on the way through (and out of) pro sumo.

English	日本語	Romaji	What it means here
Ring name	四股名	Shikona	The wrestler's professional ring name. Often poetic; sometimes inherited; can change during a career.
First appearance	初土俵	Hatsu-dohyo	A rikishi's first official basho - they appear in the maezumo lineup before earning a banzuke ranking.
Pre-banzuke bouts	前相撲	Maezumo	The introductory bouts new recruits fight before they appear on the banzuke. A formality these days; a hurdle in older eras.
Retirement	引退	Intai	Official retirement from active wrestling. A retired sekitori with a kabu transitions to oyakata; one without leaves the sport.
Elder name	年寄株	Kabu	One of 105 inheritable JSA elder-name licenses required to remain in sumo as a coach/oyakata after retirement. Acquired by purchase or inheritance - sumo's defining institutional artifact.